How West African Women “Save” the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda

This chapter argues that local women’s organizations in Côte dʼIvoire and Guinea “give” in multiple ways to the United Nations, transnational NGOs, and their own national governments, despite the perception held by these more formal actors that they are the ones who give to African women. Women who work for organizations addressing women’s peace and security do “translation” work of global humanitarian and peacebuilding programs intended to “save” African women. These organizations provide input about African women’s needs, interpret international policies for their governments and their communities, and then implement the policies. In other words, they make “African women” legible to international policymakers and donors while simultaneously being responsible for the transnational NGOs’ intentions on the ground. In doing so, the organizations not only do the work of “saving” African women, but they also work to “save” international humanitarian and peacebuilding agendas, legitimizing their goals through implementation.